Of course, a domain name does not mean instant website. Far from it. A domain registration is like an entry in the phone book. It allows people to find you easily, but it is not you. You can get a phone book entry that says you're a 24 hour dog groomer, but if you're not a 24 hour dog groomer, that entry is entirely worthless. You still have to make the site and have somewhere to host it. And that is something we can't help you with.
One note if you want to use these songs on your web page: You have to download them and reupload them onto your own server. We do not allow direct links to files because it causes a strain on the server. (People who link files are one small step above people who claim that they are the ones that made the songs if they didn't in the bottom of the Internet's Scum Bucket.) It is also common courtesy to list the name of the person who sequenced the song (made the file). (People who claim that they are the ones that made the songs if they didn't are one small step above Spammers in the bottom of the Internet's Scum Bucket)
Also, please don't take all our files and make a VGMusic.com clone. It's pointless. We're already here and doing a good job of being VGMusic.com. If all you are is our doppelganger, no one is going to visit you.
On the same token, we would love to link to you, but we're generally not going to unless your site has something to do with video games or their music.
Okay, now on to actually using the script.
But with Piano Only files there is an additional requirement: the file should consist of two tracks, one each for right and left hands. The purpose of these files is to provide scores (when opened up in a suitable program) for people to play on their keyboards and the like, so if you put in any extra stuff, your file would be at best confusing, and at worst, utterly useless. Naturally, any file which is simply a pre-sequenced song with all the channels repatched to piano will not be accepted and should not be uploaded [either as Piano Only or a piano remix, in fact]. It is not a requirement to use different channels for each track, though. But there must be two separate tracks. If you have both hands combined into one track your file will not be accepted.
It's actually easy to use the script if you have multiple songs from the same games. After the upload confirmation screen comes up, go back using your browser's back button and just change the one or two fields that need to be changed (that way you don't have to repeat your name, the game name, etc.)
We'll accept well done remixes. It is entirely up to us to decide what is a well done remix. It must be musically coherent and flow well, and it must be more than a simple changing of instruments and addition of a drum beat. The ZHQ Zelda Dance Remix is a good example of the type of file we're likely to accept (Although that particular song is one we will not accept, so please, STOP UPLOADING IT!).
To reiterate, since people don't seem to grasp the concept, adding a drum beat, changing an instrument, and slapping a lame title (As in "TiWanaKu TapF00t Remix") on it DOES NOT MAKE A REMIX. Don't send us garbage like that. Got it? Furthermore, the word "Intentional" in the first sentence is an important one. The dramatically different sound cannot be a result of your musical incompetence. If you have to call a song a "Remix" to justify the criminal action you've taken against the melody, then your file is not welcome here. Come back when you can tell the difference between a C# and a G.
The archive keeps moving because of this simple answer: It's in the witness protection program and has to keep on its toes and move often. It's dangerous for it to stay in the same place for long.
But it doesn't end with spelling errors alone. Sometimes people upload the exact same song as a file we already have in the archive. It goes up under another filename, so the file system won't notice and nothing will be overwritten, and occasionally it will even have a different file size. But it's the exact same version. For an example, if we had automatic updating there might be 17 different files on the site claiming to be the FFVII Battle Music, but there might only be 5 different versions. Humans will generally catch this, but the computer won't.
There's also the presence of incorrect music. Several times, misguided people have sent in music that they claim to be from games that are not out yet, and will not be out for a while (And when they do come out, won't even have that particular music in them). Generally, these songs are just remixes from fan sites devoted to the game in particular that have been mistaken for the actual game music. Also, someone could upload non-video game music and BOOM!- suddenly "Nirvana" is a Nintendo game that has levels named "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "All Apologies". And occasionally, people will make simple mistakes. They'll put their name in the game title box, or select the wrong system. These all get caught by humans, but there would be no logical way to make the computer take care of that.
So, in short, humans make mistakes, but computers do not. They do, however, repeat any mistake that a human makes when giving them data. Only humans are able to easily correct the mistakes of humans. So, we could have automatic updating, in which case this site would become full of computer repeated human mistakes, or we can continue manually updating and checking everything, eliminating many of the mistakes and only passing on a few human repeated human mistakes.
Also, updating less often allows us more time to catch bad files before they're added to the archive
/nickserv register password, where "password" is... your password. As well as allowing you to enter the room, this will allow you to reserve your nickname and is a good idea even if you find you don't actually need to register it to join the room. The command "/nickserv help register" will tell you more about what registering does and also what you can do as a result and such (Note that you will need to use the command "/nickserv identify password" to sign in every time you come back).
This is not a complete how-to guide for using IRC. I don't know every minute little thing that can be done. This was just a simple guide to inform you about getting into the room. If you want more information about chatting, ask someone in the room, they might be able to help you. Then again, if you don't find anyone in the room, or can't even get into the room, you're out of luck.
If you don't have a Java enabled browser (or prefer to use your own chat client), you may use a different chat program to join the room. #vgmusic is located on EsperNet, so simply use whatever IRC client you have and connect to an EsperNet server (irc.esper.net will randomly choose you an EsperNet server), and you'll be able to get into the room.
Due to a change in the way the updates are handled, this should no longer happen, though, so more than likely a large chunk of missing files indicates that half the site was destroyed by an asteroid impact, taking much of the new-files with it.
Mike Newman: He created this place. He has put many hours and many dollars into this site, raising it from a tiny little collection of just a few songs on Geocities, to a huge site with its own domain name and widespread recognition across the Internet as being the place to go for game music MIDI.
John Harvey (Forteblast): He's the webmaster and system administrator, the one to complain to if something don't work. He also keeps the forum software updated, and has written and updated some of the website's code. He was previously an updater.
Daniel Wright (dw_junon): That would be me. I guess my title is something like Information Coordinator or thereabouts. I look after the FAQ, Glossary, the MOMALs, and also try to look after the forums, though it's none too easy these days.
Scott DePouw (Secret Agent Man): He writes helpful scripts and other utilities for site staff. Updating was far more time-consuming and dull before we hired him.
Shannon Mason (Pongball): She's the Update Coordinator. It's her job to yell at the others when they don't do timely updates, as well as do the occasional update herself. If the new-files count is high, listen carefully and you'll hear her shouting. We're not sure if she'll shout at herself if her section is the one making the new-files count high.
Dave Harris (B1itz Lunar): He's an updater. He'll take files within his alphabetical range out of the new-files and put them in the archive.
Jordan Davenport (Hunter-Zero): He's also an updater. He'll take files within his alphabetical range out of the new-files and delete them.
Robert Hansson (Horn): He's yet another updater. With this many updaters, you'd think there would be updates more often...
Suds: She has two positions. First, she's an updater. I mentioned them above. But, she's also the Quality Control Coordinator. She's the one who takes care of bad links, mislabeled files, duplicates, credit fixes, etc., after they've exited the new-files. If there's a problem with a file in the archive, she's the one to turn to.
Daniel Lawrence: He's also Quality Control, though he's been known to update occasionally. He supports Godzilla for President.
Benny Hsieh (Braxus): Site design, contest coordinator, and deviser of April Fools pranks.
Kalrac: Kalrac was the primary forum administrator, wrote most of the FAQ you see here today, created and maintained the MOMALs, answered questions, and other things. He doesn't do any of that anymore, but he does still maintain The Gallery. It is rumoured that he has embarked on a thousands-of-hours quest to the former offices of Square USA, picking up some money on the way, I suspect.
Ross Bemrose (Powerlord): He was the one responsible for most of the CGI scripts we have here. In other words, he's the one responsible for setting up and maintaining the message boards, the directory listings, the upload script, the new-files directory, etc. Without his work, this would be a much duller place. Forteblast and Secret Agent Man have taken over much of this job, though many of his scripts are still in use. He left the site in mid-2005 after nearly eight years.
Necrosaro: He joined the site relatively early on in its evolution, and brought with him some financial support for the domain name and hosting. He also ran a Video Game Music Quiz before joining the VGMA. He's retired now.
One Million was hit at around 7:15 PM, 9 Sep 1999. This time around, it wasn't Kalrac, it was, uh, Peach, our former updater. This wasn't done on purpose, we really wanted someone else to get it. If we really wanted to get the milestones ourselves, we have sneaky, dirty, behind-the-scenes tricks for doing that, I mean, we can just change the counter number...
1.5 Million happened on 8 Feb 2000. I don't have a time, nor do I know who got it. It's not that special of a milestone anyway, so no one on the staff felt compelled to rig it in their favour - er - I mean no one on the staff accidentally got it.
Two Million was at around 11:35 AM, 27 Jun 2000. This one's just slightly more special than 1.5, and the honour goes to Kevin Phoenix for being the lucky guy to click reload at the right time. After five million, uh, it seems that no-one was paying attention for a while...
Ten Million came up at 6:14 AM, 11 Sep 2003, and congratulations to Zero Beats, who got it. Incidentally, staff member Daniel Lawrence got the 10000001st hit.
The site was transferred to a new server somewhere around 17 million hits, when the counter was lost and not replaced. What the count would be now is anyone's guess.
Quake (And Ambient Noise): There's no music! (With the exception of the title track, that is.) Quake's soundtrack was a masterpiece of spooky atmosphere, but that's all it was. This is the Videogame Music Archive, not the Videogame Creepy Background Sound Stored In Redbook Format On The Game CD Archive. On top of that, even if someone wanted to, they could not make a MIDI out of it, the GM spec only has 128 instruments, none of which are "Chain Dragging" or "Sonar Ping", which brings me to the next topic.
WipeOut (And Techno/Industrial): The game has music, but this music cannot be recreated in MIDI. MIDI is a wonderful standard, unfortunately it is limited. This type of music simply can't be done in MIDI. The instruments and effects needed aren't there. This type of music can be done in modules, however, provided that the tracker is talented enough.
Zelda 64: Requests for the temples are made quite often. Unfortunately, a number of them fit under the ambient noise category. Zelda was a nice game, and all, but as far as the underworld music goes, it wasn't fantastic. Sure, it's moody and atmospheric, but it doesn't translate to MIDI well. Some can't be done at all, while others will seriously suffer under General MIDI. However, responding to a request for Z64 music with the phrase "That's Ambient Noise, so it can't be done" without actually considering whether that specific song can or can't be done is dumb. There's still quite a few Zelda 64 tunes that aren't ambient noise and can be done qite well in MIDI.
Voices: Voices can't be done in General MIDI. You're never going to find a MIDI of FF7's "One Winged Angel" with the singing, so don't bother looking. The reason is the same as above, there's just no voice instrument available.
Now, of course, I am certain that someone out there will see me saying that it can't be done and set out to prove me wrong. Well, that's what I'm hoping for, so good luck to you. Also, I am not considering soundfonts and the like as a solution to these concerns. Sure, they'll work, but they're non-standard extensions that solve a specific and limited problem that basically turn a MIDI into a broken-up module and it's my opinion that if you want a module, you should look for a module, not a MIDI and sound bank combo that fakes it.
Well, to tell the truth, yes, we can, but we're not going to make one.
Okay, yes, truthfully, we have made them in the past, and will continue to do so in the future, but they are only for the purposes of backing up the site in case of a disastrous crash or what-not, and they are only for staff use. We will not make them available to the general public.
We're not just going to make a file available that would allow people to have an instant copy of our site. We've worked rather hard to get this site where it is, and if anyone else wants to challenge us, they're going to have to work just as hard.
This Page has the most up-to-date list of what we can't have.
A few words:
Some have said that it is plainly rude to post a link in response to a question. Those people do not understand that it is far more rude to ignore the over 200K of information already provided for them in the FAQ family.
Oh, you mean the Personal Computer music section? That's called "DOS & Windows" now.
Please note: The letters used above were for illustration purposes only. Don't upload all your files starting with the letters A-F, hoping that they'll get done faster. There is absolutely nothing wrong with G-M, and I was not making a comment on the speeds of the updaters. A file beginning with any letter can easily sit in the new-files as long as a different file starting with a completely different letter. Furthermore, just because an updater is responsible for a certain block of letters doesn't mean they'll do all the letters in every update. A-F might do an update on A, B, and C, then wait three months to do D, E, and F.
As for how they actually decide what makes it into the archive, that's a different matter entirely. If it's ripped or stolen, it won't make it. If it sounds absolutely awful, even if it's legitimately sequenced, it'll probably get the boot. If it sounds great, but isn't the song it claims to be, we'll toss it. After we've filtered out the obviously troublesome files, we'll pass the surviors along to Martha the chattering raccoon. She has final say about what goes in. If your song is approved by Martha, then we'll add it to the archive.
No.
No no no no no.
In other words, no. You may not. If you record a song in Sound Recorder (Or any other wave recorder), you've made a wave file, not a MIDI file. You can't make it a MIDI just by changing the name. It does not work, and it will not work. Windows may say that you've produced a MIDI file by doing that, but that's because Windows is stupid.
In addition, no.
Thankfully, if you did actually try this, our upload script will stop you. It knows what a MIDI is and won't let anything else through.
And furthermore, no, there is not a connection between video games and anime. There may be anime video games, but anime is not video games, so we're not going to have anime music here. Yes, they're both from Japan. But sushi and sake and Toyotas and kamikaze are all from Japan too, and you don't see us with a recipe section or instructions on how to fly your Camry into a boat, now do you?
Oh, you mean that wasn't a set-up for a joke?